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The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500-2000
by: Paul M. Kennedy

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Used Price: £0.79
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN: 9780006860525
ISBN: 0006860524
Label: Fontana Press
Manufacturer: Fontana Press
Number Of Pages: 926
Publication Date: March 16, 1989
Publisher: Fontana Press
Studio: Fontana Press
Sales Rank: 19346

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Compelling but obvious
Paul Kennedy's thesis is disarmingly simple - that economic muscle underpins military strength and political power among nations. He applies this analytical model to 500 years of European history, charting the decline of the Iberian powers, the rise of the British Empire and the eventual emergence of a bipolar world order after the Second World War.

Kennedy's prose is refreshingly candid and readable and the study is meticulously organised, making the central tenets of his argument easy to grasp and digest. His thesis is not overly simplified - he accepts that other factors, such as geographical location and the quality of a country's leaders, also influence the course of history.

At times, however, it's tempting to ... Read More:

Rating:

- Remembering the past, seeing the future...
History is a wonderful study, a professor of mine once commented, of the interlocking circles of influence, whereby one can find often that an obscure arranged marriage in the Dark Ages could be responsible for a thermonuclear exchange or a hostile corporate takeover today.

Of course, he was exaggerating, but only by a matter of degrees. History is the study of the interconnexions of human beings in their actions over time, and to that end, the more we understand of the past, the better chance we have of surviving and flourishing into the future.

Paul Kennedy's book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers is an insightful, sweeping examination of the centuries of the growth and dominance and, lately, relative decline of the ... Read More:

Rating:

- Not only useful but also readable :)
In this book, published in 1987, Kennedy's aim is to explain us the relationship among different forms of power: economic, political and military power. According to him, the economic power is the source of the other two.

Kennedy warns, however, that the relationship among them is quite fragile and never easy. For example, if a country spends too much money in order to increase his its military power (renforcing its political power), it will surely undermine its economic power (the original source of the other two).

In his opinion, the great powers are those states who can reach the best balance of military and economic strength, and he also thinks that as soon as they lose that ability they lose their place to another great ... Read More:

Rating:

- You really should read this book
As the relative strengths of leading nations in world affairs never remains constant, there is an optimum balance between wealth creation and military strength over the long term. Time and again the leading power believed that it could neglect wealth production in favor of military adventures but others waiting in the wings closed the gap, the relative strength was eroded and a long, slow decline of the once-leading power followed. The rise of Europe was not obvious in 1500 considering Ming China, the Ottoman Empire, the Mogul Empire, Muscovy and Tokugawa Japan which were well organized, had centralized authority and insisted on uniformity of practice and belief. European knowledge of the Orient was fragmentary and often erroneous, although the image ... Read More:

Rating:

- Kennedy is a spiritual son of Toynbee and Spengler
This book is a brilliant example of economic history. Written in Paul Kennedy's usual crystal-clear and riveting style, the Rise & Fall provides a comprehensive view of how political and economic might are connected. The book is also an illustration of the process of challenge and response described by Toynbee in relation to the life and death of civilizations. It is definitely an absolute must to anyone who whishes to understand some of the great laws of human evolution, what Spengler called the morphology of history.

Books : The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500-2000